At least not in Florida.
In a ruling expected to reverberate through legal battles over school choice in many states, the Florida Supreme Court today struck down a voucher program for students attending failing schools, saying the state constitution bars Florida from using taxpayer money to finance a private alternative to the public system.
It’s about time some court somewhere stated the obvious. Let’s face it: voucher programs are nothing more than a scam to privatize education.
There is scant evidence that draining public money to pay for kids to attend private schools actually improves the American education system. And don’t hand me the old crap about competition and the free market system. It’s a myth
Having gotten that out of my system, I’m not about to tell you that American education doesn’t need some major changes. For the most part, it’s a mid-20th century system largely unready for the 21st century.
But the bottom line is that providing a solid, basic education for every child in this country is the responsibility of everyone in this country. We need to take that responsibility far more seriously than we currently do.
There already is choice in education– except for the poor. Parents buy a house in a school ditrict of their choice. Once again, unless you’re poor. Vouchers dod not help the poor have choice in education because they do not cover the cost of the education. They simply help upper middle class and wealthy people to get a break on a choice they would make anyway.